


Hello

by StaishBlackRose



Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, M/M, So much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2015-11-19
Packaged: 2018-05-02 07:57:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5240636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaishBlackRose/pseuds/StaishBlackRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haru is preparing for a very special dinner when he receives a phone call from the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hello

**Author's Note:**

> I blame Adele's Hello for this. And so should you.

Haru was pensively tapping his lips with his fingers, slightly furrowing his eyebrows in barely visible confusion. His stare ran around the result of his efforts, searching for something that was off. The table was nicely served. Not too fancy but showing a special occasion. In the middle there was a big dish, covered for now with a God knows why belonging to Haru silver lid. He even bothered to light up a candle in a tall candlestick, again, unexpectedly found in a kitchen cupboard. Its light jumped on the rim of two champagne glasses placed in front of each other.  
But he felt like something was not right. Haru couldn't figure it out but it was not something missing. More like something not from here trying to get in. As if something foreign looked up at him from the table, hiding between forks and napkins.  
Haru was about to maybe put different knives on when he was interrupted by a phone call, which made him jump.   
"Yes, where are you?"  
"Haru? Is this really you?!"  
Incredible but the voice in the dynamic sounded even more shocked than Haru felt.   
“R-rin? How did you?..” Haru didn’t even try to pretend to be calm. The voice he haven’t heard for 2 years but which used to mean so much, used to guide and challenge caught him completely off guard.  
“I found Nagisa on facebook and we chatted and I asked about you and… Wow, I can’t believe I finally reached out to you! I phoned you like a million times!”  
Haru could distinctly feel the tension in Rin’s voice no matter how carefree he tried to sound. He could almost see Matsuoka’s face kept still in a mask, ready to melt at any moment. Image he still remembered so clearly.  
“Nagisa said you are in Tokyo right now. I have a race there, next week and I thought… maybe we could meet up? Talk about everything and just… catch up, you know.”  
“Rin… I don’t…”  
“I don’t mean we have to talk about… you know. Come on, it’s been two years.” Rin let out a nervous laugh. “I thought we cooled our heads already.”  
Haru stood still squeezing the speaker in his hands till his knuckles turned white, trying to blink the moment away. Did Rin do it on purpose? Was it a coincidence? Or did he plan on ringing not just in 2 years, but exactly in 2 years…   
“I am living in California now. Temporally, of course. Remember how we went there for the first time? How you were stressed cause food differed so much and I thought it all looked like Australia? I still think that, but it’s less… isolated, I guess. We walked down the streets and no one knew our names and… I miss it. I think, now I understand what you meant before you…”  
“Rin.” Haru’s voice sounded firmer than he hoped for. He listened to every word but they didn’t come together. Like Rin was giving him puzzle pieces from different jigsaws and they didn’t connect into one picture.

_“Stop making dumb decisions!” Rin caught his arm as Haru opened the suitcase.  
“I told you, I am done with it! I know what I want, Rin, and it’s not this!” Even now he fought the desire to look out of the window to check for people looking, listening, picturing his every step.  
He couldn’t come out without them following, his favourite morning jogs turned into searching for escape routs and hiding. He wanted to swim, right, but he never wanted to be kept in an aquarium.  
“What are you going to do anyway?! You can’t do anything but swimming!”  
Haru straightened up and turned to Rin.  
“How do you know it?! You were never interested in anything in me apart from swimming. You are obsessed with out neverending race, you never noticed anything but that!”  
“It doesn’t change the fact!” Rin grabbed him by the collar and pulled in. “Tell me what you are going to do when you walk out of this door? Come back to Iwatobi where there is nothing to do? Where there is nothing going on? Where time stands still? And then what?”  
“I am going to be free.” Haru’s voice returned to his passive stubborn tone.  
“Hell, whatever!” Rin pushed him back. “Leave, run, coward. Blew the dream you were so happy to find. But I am not going to follow you back.”  
“I don’t want you to follow me.” Haru struggled out. “I want to find my dream on my own. Without your help. Without your anything involved.”  
“So, is this you telling me you don’t need me?” Rin’s face fell and…_

“I know we are different in many ways. I understand it now. I am sorry I was so blind before. I am sorry I pulled you down the path with me. I am sorry, please, say something. I tried to reach you for all those 2 years.”  
“Why, Rin?”  
“Because I needed to tell you that. I… I thought it might… you might…” He stopped to make a breath. “Anyway, look at me talking about myself all the time! How are you?”

_“I didn’t say this. I am saying we need to go our ways from now.” Haru absentmindedly started to rub a little spot on his suitcase.  
Pause lingered in the room.  
“Right. You are right! You wanted to hear that? Go away, to the god forsaken town! Off you go! I won’t have to deal with your mood swings and your caprices. And you are right, we don’t need each other. I thought it was like that back in Australia, but I guess it changed. I should have stuck to my words and never swim with you again.”_

“Listen, Rin, I am busy now. I… have things to do.” Haru mumbled looking at the goddamn table with the goddamn flaw he couldn’t pin point.

_It didn’t take long to pack clothes. It was much more difficult with stuff. They always bought everything for two in their Sydney flat. What he could take with him and what belonged to Rin? Should he even bother with thinking about it? Haru moved to the door and found a silver and blue bag with glasses he bought yesterday. Rin’s birthday approached and they still didn’t have anything apart from cups in their flat because of all the traveling.  
“Take them.” Rin’s voice was hoarse and trembling. “I will send everything else back to you. Just leave now. I don’t want to bother you anymore.”_

“I… I am good. I live in Tokyo permanently now and I... Listen, uhm, today is not a good time for this talk.”  
“Oh, I am sorry, I thought after all this time you…”  
“Haru! I am home!”   
Nanase pressed the speaker to his chest and turned to the door.   
“I am sorry, I am late! I was looking for your favourite wine, for some reason they didn’t sell it in like 3 shops. I am very sorry!” Makoto burst into the flat, taking the coat with patches from melting snow off his broad shoulders. “I hope you didn’t wait for long. Oh, are you busy on the phone? Is everything all right? You look upset. Something happened?”  
“No, I am fine.” A weak smile pulled on Haru’s lips. “Give me a minute to finish everything, okay?”  
“Sure!” Makoto gave him his signature smile, which warmed Haru up from the posture he froze in when the phone rang.  
Haru brought the speaker back to his ear when Makoto disappeared behind the bathroom door.  
“Rin, I wanted to say that…” But there were only crackling beeps coming from afar.  
He carefully put the phone down and returned to the kitchen. Without any hesitations he took the glasses off the table and threw them into the trash can right before still smiling Makoto entered the room, holding a bottle of wine in his hands.   
“Happy second anniversary, Haru.”

**Author's Note:**

> You are welcome to interpret actions of the characters in any way that you prefer.  
> And I am very sorry.


End file.
